Your Home Phone on Google Voice

That is it, no more phone bills! I have decided to switch my home phone number from Vonage to Google Voice. I now needed to check into “Porting” the phone number so that I could keep it. I logged into my Gmail account and went to Google Voice. The setup procedure asked if I would like to use a new number or use my mobile number. I chose to use my mobile number. I put in my number to check for available options. The results I received stated that my mobile number could not be ported at this time. I was not surprised since the number is still listed with Vonage who is considered a land line provider.

I then called Verizon. I asked them to setup a new “Pay As You Go” account from me on an old cell phone I had laying in the junk drawer. I said I wanted to port my existing number to them, which they were more than glad to do. I selected the least expensive plan which cost $0.00 per day with 25 cents per minute. This would not matter since I did not plan on using the service anyway. They wanted to charge me an activation fee until I stated the fee was waived on the internet where I got this number to call them. They also wanted me to pay for some minutes upfront. I just told them I would rather wait until the transfer is complete. So far I have switched my number from Vonage to Verizon and it has cost me nothing.

Next I went online to Amazon and purchased a VOIP device. I ordered the OBi110 Voice Service Bridge and VoIP Telephone Adapter which will allow us to make and receive calls from Google Voice. It also has some other really nice features as well. The device is portable so you can use it wherever you have internet access. Best of all there is NO monthly fee.

The porting of my number to took a little longer than expected (due to an error by Vonage). The next day I received a text message from Verizon that the number had been ported. I then waited until the following day to make any more changes due to the fact that most services refresh overnight.

The next morning I logged into my Google Voice account and plugged in my phone number again, this time it worked. I chose to port my number to Google Voice. During the process you will be asked for your account number. I just called Verizon customer service to obtain the number.

It was in the porting process with Google that my free ride came to a halt. They needed to verify my cell phone number by calling it. Since I hadn’t purchased any minutes yet, the attempt to call my cell phone failed. I did however find out that instead of purchasing the minimum $15 dollar amount by calling *611 on your cell phone, you can stop by a Verizon store and buy a $5 dollar package. I also had to spend $20 dollars to have Google port the number when it was finished.

In conclusion: In a matter of 3 days and $25 dollars I ported my phone number twice, spent an additional $50 dollars on an Telephone Adapter, and ended up with the same home telephone number and service I had with Vonage; only now it is FREE!